The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
In the first place, the preceding section will have indicated that there are two lines of Yoga—namely, Dhyāna or Bhāvanā Yoga, and Kundalī Yoga, the subject of this work—and that there is a difference between the two. The first class of Yoga is that in which ecstasy (Samādhi) is attained by intellective processes (Kriyā jnāna) of meditation and the like with the aid, it may be, in the preliminary stage of auxiliary processes of Mantra or Hathayoga¹ (other than the rousing of Kundalī Shakti) and by detachment from the world; the second is that Yoga in which, though intellective processes are not neglected, the creative and sustaining Shakti of the whole body as Kundalinī is actually and truly united with the Lord Consciousness so as to procure for the Yogī a result which the Jnāna-yogī directly gains for himself. The Yogī makes Her introduce Him to Her Lord, and enjoys the bliss of union through Her. Though it is He who arouses Her, it is She who gives Jnāna, for She is Herself that. The Dhyāna-yogī gains what acquaintance with the supreme state his own meditative powers can give him, and knows not the enjoyment of union with Shiva in and through his fundamental body-power. The two forms of Yoga differ both as to method and result. The Hathayogī in search of Laya regards his Yoga and its fruit as the highest. The Jnānayogī thinks similarly of his own. And in fact Rāja Yoga is generally regarded as the highest form of Yoga. Kundalinī is so renowned that many seek to know Her. Having studied the theory of this Yoga, I have often been asked “whether one can get on without it”. The answer is: “It depends upon what you are looking for and on your powers.” If you want to rouse Kundalī Shakti to enjoy the bliss of union of Shiva and Shakti through Her, which your capacities do not otherwise allow you to have or if you wish to gain the accompanying powers (Siddhi),¹ it is obvious that this end can only be achieved by the Yoga here described. But if liberation is sought and the Yogī has capacity to attain it without Kundalinī, then such Yoga is not necessary, for liberation may be obtained by pure Jnānayoga through detachment, the exercise, and then the stilling, of the mind without any reference to the central bodily power at all. Indeed perfect Liberation (Nirvikalpa Samādhi) can only be obtained in this way by Raja Yoga of which Kundalī Yoga is a preliminary method.² Samādhi may also be attained on the path of devotion (Bhakti), as on that of knowledge. Indeed, the highest devotion (Parabhakti) is not different from knowledge. Both are realisation. A Dhyāna-Yogī should not neglect his body, knowing that, as he is both mind and matter, each reacts the one upon the other. Neglect or mere mortification of the body is more apt to produce disordered imagination than a true spiritual experience. He is not concerned, however, with the body in the sense that the Hathayogī is. It is possible to be a successful Dhyāna-Yogī and yet to be weak in body and health, sick, and short-lived. His body, and not he himself, determines when he shall die. He cannot die at will. The ecstasis, which he calls “Liberation while yet living” (Jīvanmukta), is (so it was said to me) not a state like that of real liberation. He may be still subject to a suffering body, from which he escapes only at death, when, he is liberated. His ecstasy is in the nature of a meditation which passes into the Void (Bhāvanā samādhi) effected through negation of thought (Chittavritti) and detachment from the world—a process in which the act of raising the central power of the body takes no part. By his effort¹ the mind, which is a product of Kundalinī as Prakriti Shakti, together with its worldly desires, is stilled, so that the veil produced by mental functioning is removed from Consciousness. In Layayoga Kundalinī Herself, when roused by the Yogī (for such rousing is his act and part), achieves for him this illumination. But why, it may be asked, should one trouble over the body and its central power, the more particularly that there are unusual risks and difficulties involved? The answer has been already given—alleged certainty and facility of realisation through the agency of the power which is Knowledge itself (Jnānarūpā shakti); an intermediate acquisition of powers (Siddhi); and both intermediate and final enjoyment. This answer may, however, usefully be developed, as a fundamental
1 Such as Prānāyāma, Āsana. See ante, p. 195.
1 Thus, by raising Kundalī Shakti to the Manipūra centre, power may (it is said) be acquired over fire.
2 Subject to Dharma, Yama, Niyama, etc. In any case where the end sought is purely spiritual there is Vairāgya or renunciation.
In the first place, the preceding section will have indicated that there are two lines of Yoga—namely, Dhyāna or Bhāvanā Yoga, and Kundalī Yoga, the subject of this work—and that there is a difference between the two. The first class of Yoga is that in which ecstasy (Samādhi) is attained by intellective processes (Kriyā jnāna) of meditation and the like with the aid, it may be, in the preliminary stage of auxiliary processes of Mantra or Hathayoga¹ (other than the rousing of Kundalī Shakti) and by detachment from the world; the second is that Yoga in which, though intellective processes are not neglected, the creative and sustaining Shakti of the whole body as Kundalinī is actually and truly united with the Lord Consciousness so as to procure for the Yogī a result which the Jnāna-yogī directly gains for himself. The Yogī makes Her introduce Him to Her Lord, and enjoys the bliss of union through Her. Though it is He who arouses Her, it is She who gives Jnāna, for She is Herself that. The Dhyāna-yogī gains what acquaintance with the supreme state his own meditative powers can give him, and knows not the enjoyment of union with Shiva in and through his fundamental body-power. The two forms of Yoga differ both as to method and result. The Hathayogī in search of Laya regards his Yoga and its fruit as the highest. The Jnānayogī thinks similarly of his own. And in fact Rāja Yoga is generally regarded as the highest form of Yoga. Kundalinī is so renowned that many seek to know Her. Having studied the theory of this Yoga, I have often been asked “whether one can get on without it”. The answer is: “It depends upon what you are looking for and on your powers.” If you want to rouse Kundalī Shakti to enjoy the bliss of union of Shiva and Shakti through Her, which your capacities do not otherwise allow you to have or if you wish to gain the accompanying powers (Siddhi),¹ it is obvious that this end can only be achieved by the Yoga here described. But if liberation is sought and the Yogī has capacity to attain it without Kundalinī, then such Yoga is not necessary, for liberation may be obtained by pure Jnānayoga through detachment, the exercise, and then the stilling, of the mind without any reference to the central bodily power at all. Indeed perfect Liberation (Nirvikalpa Samādhi) can only be obtained in this way by Raja Yoga of which Kundalī Yoga is a preliminary method.² Samādhi may also be attained on the path of devotion (Bhakti), as on that of knowledge. Indeed, the highest devotion (Parabhakti) is not different from knowledge. Both are realisation. A Dhyāna-Yogī should not neglect his body, knowing that, as he is both mind and matter, each reacts the one upon the other. Neglect or mere mortification of the body is more apt to produce disordered imagination than a true spiritual experience. He is not concerned, however, with the body in the sense that the Hathayogī is. It is possible to be a successful Dhyāna-Yogī and yet to be weak in body and health, sick, and short-lived. His body, and not he himself, determines when he shall die. He cannot die at will. The ecstasis, which he calls “Liberation while yet living” (Jīvanmukta), is (so it was said to me) not a state like that of real liberation. He may be still subject to a suffering body, from which he escapes only at death, when, he is liberated. His ecstasy is in the nature of a meditation which passes into the Void (Bhāvanā samādhi) effected through negation of thought (Chittavritti) and detachment from the world—a process in which the act of raising the central power of the body takes no part. By his effort¹ the mind, which is a product of Kundalinī as Prakriti Shakti, together with its worldly desires, is stilled, so that the veil produced by mental functioning is removed from Consciousness. In Layayoga Kundalinī Herself, when roused by the Yogī (for such rousing is his act and part), achieves for him this illumination. But why, it may be asked, should one trouble over the body and its central power, the more particularly that there are unusual risks and difficulties involved? The answer has been already given—alleged certainty and facility of realisation through the agency of the power which is Knowledge itself (Jnānarūpā shakti); an intermediate acquisition of powers (Siddhi); and both intermediate and final enjoyment. This answer may, however, usefully be developed, as a fundamental
1 Such as Prānāyāma, Āsana. See ante, p. 195.
1 Thus, by raising Kundalī Shakti to the Manipūra centre, power may (it is said) be acquired over fire.
2 Subject to Dharma, Yama, Niyama, etc. In any case where the end sought is purely spiritual there is Vairāgya or renunciation.
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